The Central Electoral Board (JCE) and the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR)) signed this Monday a cooperation agreement that seeks to establish the vote of remand prisoners in the 2024 general elections, reported the electoral body.
The agreement was signed at the JCE headquarters by its president, Roman Andres Jaquez Liranzoand by the Attorney General of the Republic, Miriam German Brito.
Through the agreement, the electoral and civil registry body will provide equipment for the census and information update biometric in detention centers, as well as the use of the multibiometric system in the processes of consultation and identification of persons, imputation and deprived of liberty. The PGR will have access to the mechanisms of inquiries in the JCE database.
The president of the JCE described the signing of the agreement as “a historical step within democratic transparency and the efficiency of rights” which, he assured, must be guaranteed, “not on paper”, but in a real and effective way.
Jáquez Liranzo highlighted the importance of support for the identification of the identity through the biometrics mechanism because it will allow, first, that those deprived of liberty in a preventive manner who do not have the loss of any type of fundamental right except what is indicated in the criminal process, can exercise active suffrage for the 2024 election just as the penitentiary vote exists in other countries.
He added that the agreement will also allow purging the census of the prison system excluding all persons already judged definitively and irrevocably.
For her part, the Attorney General of the Republic, Miriam Germán Brito, highlighted the importance of the agreement considering that it recognizes enshrined rights in the Constitution in favor of disadvantaged people in society who could not exercise the right to vote because they were not registered or had no way to record their data.
“The question of the right to vote has a long history of exclusion. For example, women were excluded for many years and it was not that long ago that our right to vote was recognized. This is important because these people feel that they can assert their opinion, their hope in favor of this or that candidate who believe that he responds better or is more concerned about his situation”, said Germán Brito.
In the agreement, the Public ministry establishes that it requires the implementation of a multibiometric system that facilitates the management, protection and consultation, to strengthen the identification of persons and accused, in addition to the control of deprived of libertyin the processes of investigation, prosecution or deprivation of liberty.
In the agreement, the JCE promised to support and collaborate with computer equipment and systems to the Public Ministry.
For the operation of the modality of access to information, both the JCE and the PGR undertook to develop a consultation interface so that the judicial body can access the Master File of Documents via the web, through an application created to consult in line during processes of registration, identification or update of identification of people.